Hull is going Dutch in a bid to secure a long-term deal with the government to boost the city's economy.

Council officials have looked at how Rotterdam has forged a similar funding agreement with the Netherlands government to tackle issues such as unemployment, skills training and regeneration.

Hull's proposed City Deal sets out more than £1bn worth of potential joint investment over the next two decades.

Mark Jones, the city council's regeneration director

Guildhall bosses have identified a series of projects, from the planned new cruise ship terminal next to The Deep to the creation of a £45m Tech Corridor along the River Hull where sites could be cleared to attract new high-tech manufacturing and digital businesses.

Mark Jones, the city council's regeneration director, said: "We have looked in some detail at what Rotterdam has done in terms to organising a long-term funding deal with national government.

"Their approach is to cover an entire generation, from pre-school through further and higher education and then into work.

"Rotterdam and other European port cities, such as Hamburg and those in Sweden, have experienced a similar economic story as Hull over the last few decades, with the declining port-related jobs through automation and, in our case, the collapse of the fishing industry.

An artist's impression of the proposed new cruise terminal near The Deep

"This has led to inter-generational unemployment which cannot be addressed by the sort of competitive short-term regeneration funding regimes successive governments have relied on in the past.

"What we are setting out with this City Deal is the idea of a 15-year agreement which is the only sustainable way to address these sort of ingrained issues.

"We need to break the cycle of a government coming into power and not continuing previous funding commitments because it only creates short-term fixes."

Mr Jones said the Tech Corridor idea could see a new Enterp[rise Zone being declared on either side of the river through Hull's traditional industrial heartland.

Such a zone could tax breaks, fast-track planning and start-up grants being offered as incentives for firms to set up new businesses there.

He also confirmed the council was in talks with the University of Hull over a proposed new £22m research centre aimed at promoting new hi-tech eco-friendly manufacturing processes.

The Energy Works power plant is part of the River Hull Corridor

"In essence it would build on what the new University Technology College does now and what Siemens chief executive Jurgen Maier has been taling about in his recent review on industrial digitisation in the UK."

Mr Jones said no site had yet been earmarked for the research centre but claimed it would be a "perfect addition" to recent riverside developments such as the C4Di digital start-up complex, RB's new £105m research and development facility and the soon-to-open Energy Works power plant.